Closure for bottles and the like



April 29, 1947. WLTAYL 2,419,743

CLOSURE FOR BOTTLE-S AND THE LIKE Filed May 15, 1943 I TAYLOR nventor Iwwm A ftorneys Patented Apr. 29, 1947 CLOSURE FOE BOTTLES AND THE LIKEWilliam Ivan Taylor, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignor to BritishCelanese Limited, London, England, a company of Great BritainApplication May 15, 1943, Serial No. 487,089 In Great Britain June 6,1942 4 Claims.

This invention relates to closures for bottles and the like and isparticularly concerned with stoppers for fitting into the necks ofdrinkingwater bottles or similar Vessels.

According to the present invention, a stopper for fitting into the neckof a vessel comprises a core, a resilient layer of fibres round saidcore, and a flexible skin covering said layer. The fibres are preferablyemployed in the form of a continuous yarn wound on the core to form theresilient layer, and the invention will be mainly described hereafterwith reference to this preferred embodiment. The stopper constituted inaccordance with the invention can be used for closing the neck of abottle in the same manner as a stopper of natural cork or rubber. Thestopper is especially useful for military and similar dringing-waterbottles, and will be hereinafter described in this connection.

The core of the stopper can be made of wood, or of any other suitablerigid material such as a thermoplastic or thermosetting composition thatmay be moulded to the requisite shape. If wood or other porous materialis used the core is preferably rendered impervious to liquid. Forexample, it may be water-proofed by soaking in molten parafii wax.Besides the portion of the core on which the layer of yarn is wound, thecore may comprise an extension suitably shaped to facilitate thehandling of the stopper, e. g. insertion into and removal from the neckof the vessel, the resilience imparted by the layer of yarn beingconfined to that part of the length of the stopper which engages withthe aperture of the vessel to be closed. The extension may be adaptedfor the attachment of the stopper to the vessel, in order to preventloss of the stopper when it is removed from the neck of the bottle. Inorder to give the stopper a suitable taper, it is preferable to taperthe core, the form of the core taper being calculated, having regard tothe nature of the operation by which the layer of yarn is to be wound onit, to give the finished product a taper of the desired form and degree.In order to prevent the layer of yarn from slipping off the tapered endof the core, the surface of the core may be suitably roughened orgrooved, e. g. with a series of circumferential grooves spaced along thelength of the core.

The yarn wound on the core to form a resilient layer thereon ispreferably wound on in a crosswinding operation, in which the core isrotated while the yarn is fed to it and traversed rapidly to and froalong the length of the core. The cross-winding of the yarn, arisingfrom the rapidity of the to-and-fro traverse, gives stability to theresilient layer and prevents the outer turns of the yarn sloughing offby Sliding over the inner turns. For the purpose of ensuring an eventaper in the finished product, special attention should be paid to theform of the cam or other means employed to effect the traversing of theyarn, particularly at those parts of the cam or the like controlling theends of the traverse. In this connection it may be desirable to impart anon-uniform taper to the core, the taper 0f the core being made sharpernear the small end of the taper than at the wide end in order tocounteract any tendency of the crosswound layer of yarn to be thicker atthe two ends of the traverse than in the middle.

The flexible imperviou skin covering the resilient layer of yarn isadvantageously formed by using yarn of a material that is soluble in anorganic liquid, and dipping the stopper, after the winding of theresilient layer, into a bath of such solvent liquid. In this manner, theimpervious skin is formed from the outer layers of the yarn itself andis very securely united to the layer of yarn beneath. Cellulose acetateis a suitable material for use as the basis of a yarn that is to bepartly dissolved in this manner, though yarns of other organicderivatives of cellulose can be employed such as yarns of othercellulose esters, e. g. cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate,cellulose mixed esters, e. g, cellulose acetate-propionate,acetate-butyrate and acetate-stearate, cellulose ethers, e. g. ethylcellulose, benzyl cellulose and ethyl-hexylcellulose and ester-ethers ofcellulose, e. g. ethyl cellulose acetate. Polymerised unsaturatedfibreforming substances can also be used, for instance, polyvinylchloride-acetate, polystyrene and polymers of acrylic acid and itsderivatives. Acetone is a suitable solvent for forming an imperviousskin where the yarn employed is cellulose acetate, and also for manyother of the cellulose derivatives.

Instead of forming the flexible impervious skin from the substance ofthe yarn itself in the manner described above, the Wound stopper may bedipped in a solution of a water-resistant filmforming substance in avolatile organic liquid, and allowed to dry. In this case, any of theabove substances may be employed as the basis of the solution, and thesolution may or may not be such as to have a solvent action on thesubstance of the yarn itself. Thus, the solution may be a relativelyweak solution of the substance of which the yarn is formed, or of someother substance compatible therewith, in which case the advantagementioned above of securely uniting the skin to the layer of yarn isobtained, or the solution may be such as to have no solvent action onthe outer surface of the layer of yarn. Examples of yarns on whichsolutions in organic liquids of the substances mentioned above Willgenerally have no solvent action are cotton yarns, and yarns ofregenerated cellulose.

The yarn employed to form the resilient layer, whether of the soluble orinsoluble type, may either be a continuous filament yarn or a staplefibre yarn. The former is more suitable where a hard and only slightlyresilient stopper is required; the latter gives a rather more resilientstopper, suitable for use when the neck of the vessel to be closed bythe stopper cannot be relied on to be truly circular in cros section.Care should be taken that before winding, the yarn is suitably aged orconditioned to form a stable resilient layer, not liable to slough offthe core by reason of shrinkage or expansion. Thus, for example, where acellulose acetate yarn spun by the dry or evaporative method isemployed, the use of a freshly spun yarn, liable to contain asubstantial proportion of residual solvent, should be avoided.

The solvent or the solution of film-forming material may containadditional materials such as dyes for the purpose of colouring thestoppers in the course of the dipping operation, or sub stances for thepurpose of modifying the mechanical characteristics of the product, suchas plasticisers for the substance of the flexible outer skin.

Instead of forming the resilient layer by crosswinding on the core yarnsof the several materials mentioned above, the layer may be in the formof a resilient felt or mat formed round, or fitted over the rigid core,and coveredwith the flexible impervious skin; or the layer may becomposite, and comprise both a felted or matted component layer and acomponent layer of yarn.

By way of example, one particular form of stopper constructed inaccordance with the inand allowed to drain point upwards so that theacetone drains away from the small end 9 of the stopper. In this way. askin ID of cellulose -acetate (Fig. 3) of a thickness of about /50" isvention, and suitable for use as the stopper of '1 a militarywater-bottle, will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a core for the reception of the layer of yarn,

Fig. 2 shows the stopper complete with its layer of yarn, and a Fig. 3is a section of a complete stopper, showing the flexible skin.

The basis of the stopper as shown in Fig. 1, is a wooden or mouldedplastic core I of 2 /z" in length tapering for the first part of itslength 2 from a diameter to a diameter of In the remainder of its lengththe core tapers from 1% to it", this taper being more gradual at 3 nearthe thick end of the core, than at the small end 4. The yarn is wound onthe second portion 3, l of the core, and to assist in retaining the yarnlayer the core is grooved circumferentially with a series of grooves 5,$5 wide and deep, spaced from one another at intervals of The formedcore I is soaked for one hour in molten pa-rafiin wax at 105 C. Thethick end 2 0f the core is drilled transversely at 6 to take a string 1(Fig. 2) for attachment to the bottle of which the stopper is to form aclosure.

The resilient yarn layer 8 shown in position in Figs. 2 and 3 is formedfrom continuous filament cellulose acetate yarn of 140 denier containing26 filaments and twisted to 0.8 turn per inch. The yarn is traversedover a length of 1%" of the core I, leaving about A of the tip of thecore uncovered as indicated at 9. The rapidity of traverse is such thatthe core I is rotated four times for each to-and-fro motion of thetraverse. 750 revolutions per minute is a satisfactory speed of winding.Winding is continued until a layer 8 of a little over has been wound onthe core I.

After winding, the stopper is immersed in acetone for a period of 4seconds and. then removed formed, covering the resilient layer 8 ofcellulose acetate yarn. If desired, a suitable acetone-soluble dyestufffor cellulose acetate may be included in the bath so as to dye thestopper during the dipping operation.

The stopper made in this way is a single-piece article, withoutdetachable metallic parts that are liable to be removed and lost, and,on account of its smooth and impervious surface, is hygienic incharacter. When desired, the stopper may be easily and safely sterilisedby dry heat at a temperature up to C.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by LettersPatent, is:

1. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising anelongated core, a resilient layer in the form of a continuous cellulosicyarn crosswound upon said core, and a flexible skin made from said yarncovering said layer.

2. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising anelongated core, a resilient layer in the form of a continuous yarn of anorganic derivative of cellulose cross-wound upon said core and aflexible impervious skin, consisting of softened fibres of thecross-wound yarn, covering said layer.

3. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising a taperedcore, the taper being more pronounced near the small end and lesspronounced near the large end than in the middle, a resilient layer inthe form of a continuous yarn of cellulose acetate cross-wound upon saidcore, and a flexible impervious skin consisting of softened fibres ofthe cross-wound yarn, covering said layer.

4. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising a taperedcore, the taper being more pronounced near the small end and lesspronounced near the large end than in the middle, a resilient layer inthe form of a continuous yarn of cellulose acetate cross-wound upon saidcore, and a flexible impervious skin consisting of softened fibres ofthe cross-wound yarn, covering said layer, said core beingcircumferentially grooved to assist in retaining the resilient layerthereon and extending beyond the resilient layer to form a handle forthe stopper.

WILLIAM IVAN TAYLOR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 324,040 Painter Aug. 11, 1885466,169 Hume Dec. 29, 1891 1,111,228 Miller Sept. 22, 1914 659,505Blumer Oct. 9, 1900 692,359 Rouse Feb. 4, 1902 1,633,576 Franks June 28,1927 1,458,931 Frederick June 19, 1923 1,996,791 Blake Apr. 9, 19352,183,735 Baker Dec. 19,1935

1,915,587 Worthington June 27, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date26,392 England Nov. 21, 1906 211,675 England Feb. 28, 1924 165,639Germany Nov. 28, 1905

